2020 Giro d'Italia Stage 7 Results & Recap
Stage 7 of the 2020 Giro d'Italia is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Démare makes it three in Brindisi
Arnaud Démare (GFC) showed his rivals a clean pair of heels for the third time at the 2020 Giro d'italia, this time in Brindisi, where the French national champion form dominated the pool of sprinters. Démare's Groupama FDJ team was also superior, creating a clear path for their victor to follow in the closing kilometres. Peter Sagan (Bora Hansgrohe) attached himself to Démare's wheel when it counted, but didn't have the legs to challenge the 29-year-old at the line and had to settle for second place. With his third win, Démare has opened up his lead in the sprinter's competition by 55 points ahead of Sagan.
“Having fantastic teammates made the difference today. It was amazing what they did for me,” Démare said. “It was a very fast stage with echelons and then a tailwind and lots of crashes. It was very nervous. Fortunately things calmed down but it was also a fast sprint. There was a lot of wind until four kilometres to go and the final was twisting, making it difficult to move up. I waited a bit to open up my sprint and saw Sagan was behind and ready me. But it was okay, it was perfect.”
Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) was third, and Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) fourth.
João Almeida (DQT) made it to the finish safely still in the maglia rosa, likely relieved to make it through a stage packed of speed and nerves. The 143km stage from Matera to Brindisi averaged 51 kph, and was littered with crosswinds, causing multiple splits in the peloton and constant stress amongst the GC contenders.
“The stage was very fast and nervous because of the wind, but I had a perfect team around me, who protected me and made sure I was always at the front, and thanks to them everything went smoothly today. I was a bit nervous at the start due to the echelons, because I don’t have that much experience of racing in these conditions, but when you have such a strong squad around you, you grow in confidence. I am delighted that I could keep the maglia rosa, but now a really hard weekend awaits, and I hope to have the same good legs to overcome the obstacles lying ahead,” Almeida said.
Out of Matera, Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) attacked out of the peloton taking Josef Cerny (CCC Team), Marco Frapporti (Vini Zabù-KTM) and Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli) with him. They became the break of the day, but it didn't last long when the winds took a turn creating an opportunity for Jumbo-Visma, Groupama-FDJ and Deceuninck-QuickStep to go hard at the front and force gaps in the bunch.
The first turn of speed saw GC contenders Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe), Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain McLaren), Domenico Pozzovivo (NTT Pro Team) and Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal) caught off the back - but the groups eventually morphed back together when the wind turned into a tailwind.
Deceuninck-QuickStep was in charge for the majority of the stage, patrolling the front and ensuring Almeida was safe from danger. In the finale, the sprinters' teams took over and it was a straight drag race 1600m to the finish, where Demare had a perfect lead out from his teammates. \n
Get our full coverage of the Giro d'Italia and every race we cover with our mobile app! The apps have over 100 additional exclusive features, including our award-winning Time Machine feature that lets you pause/rewind/replay the entire app to sync with delayed race video, integrated Fantasy Cycling, push notifications, an integrated news feed, live GPS tracking, world-class commentary, and our animated interactive maps and profiles.
